1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to the primary purpose of meditation, more specifically to a chair that offers full body support while sitting in the lotus style position.
2. Description of Prior Art
With today's lifestyle, stress is an everyday condition with more and more doctors and medical reports tying stress to illness--physical and mental. Meditation is gaining wide acceptance in the West in dealing with this stress.
For thousands of years the spiritual masters of the East and others who meditate have used the sitting lotus position for the maximum flow of CHI (energy) through the body while meditating. One of the prime conditions in all forms of meditation is the need for total relaxation while maintaining an attentively fixed position in order to obtain the maximum benefits of meditation.
Often those who practiced meditation started at a very early age when that position was easily attained and continued throughout their lifetime with little or no discomfort.
With the movement toward meditation and relaxation practice more and more people of all ages are becoming interested and involved in such practices. Many of these people must sit in a chair because they cannot attain the desired lotus position, or if they do, they are so uncomfortable that they cannot completely relax for the full benefit of meditating, even some lifelong meditators have succumbed to using pillows of various shapes in order to relieve some of the stress on the hip and knee areas.
Through extensive patent searching I have not found any such chair per se, or other rigid holding device for meditating in the lotus style position. Trade magazines offer pillows, cushions, baskets and benches, but none offer full body support for a totally relaxed lotus position.
A cushion or pillow to sit on will raise one a few inches off the floor, and at best, slightly relieve the stress these people are trying to eliminate, but they offer no back or knee support and if sitting forward enough to draw the feet in close, the knees have no support which puts a strain on the hip and knee joints and causes discomfort in a very short time.